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26 August 2015

Half of all card expenditure comes from Asia Pacific

Euromonitor International has released new data on the global consumer finance industry today. Consumer card payments continued to take share from cash globally from 2014 to 2015 in terms of value, with the lion's share of growth from the Asia Pacific (APAC) region.

APAC accounted for 50% of the card spend in 2015. Card payment value is projected to reach US$29.2 trillion in 2020 with Asia Pacific representing 54% of that total. China’s positive card and electronic payment regulation contributes to this vast growth.

Payment regulations in China led to the country producing the largest card issuers and card network by total processed payment value over the last ten years. Unionpay International, China’s domestic card network, became the largest card network by total processed value of US$6.8 trillion in 2014. The network was able to reach this position due to a near monopoly of payment processing in China, but has more recently turned to regional expansion to sustain growth.

Key consumer finance trends in 2015:

Debit remains the most common card type: In absolute value terms, debit payment value will represent 57% of card payment growth from 2014 to 2020. Emerging market consumers utilising financial services have driven this growth historically and will continue to do so over the forecast period.

More consumers becoming banked: In 46 global markets, approximately 120 million consumers became banked from 2014 to 2015 due to advances in technology, as well as banks' and non-banks' ability to offer financial products and services through mobile devices. Mobile has helped bypass the traditional infrastructure barrier in many emerging markets.

Card value being driven by markets: the UK, US, Canada, China and South Korea are expected to continue driving global card payment value growth. These five markets are forecast to represent 71% of total card payment value in 2015.